State facility gives homeless people ability to isolate

Population poses unique challenges to advocates, officials in pandemic

Isolating from others poses particular problems for those experiencing homelessness, so the Arkansas Department of Health now operates a 29-bed facility for people who need distance after testing positive or being exposed to covid-19.

The facility, which hasn’t reached full capacity since its inception in early April, has been useful also for people in multigenerational households who test positive and can’t feasibly separate from family members, said Dr. Appathurai Balamurugan, the department’s deputy chief medical officer and state chronic disease director.

The Little Rock facility, called the Isolation and Quarantine Facility, is open to anyone across the state, and many people have traveled to stay there, Balamurugan said. The Health Department declined requests to release the address.

So far the only multigenerational household members who’ve used it have been Hispanic or Marshallese, he said.

A Marshallese family with 14 in their home had five family members test covid-positive last month. Those five

stayed in the facility while the other nine quarantined at home, he said.

Typical stays are 14 days, and members of the same household can shelter together. The stay is free.

The place is staffed in part by eight members of the National Guard, who primarily transport people to and from the facility and provide “any assistance within the facility,” Health Department spokeswoman Danyelle McNeill said. She added that their duties are still being discussed, and that they all are from different units.

The facility has individual rooms with beds, bathrooms and televisions, Balamurugan said. Meals are delivered to the rooms.

Mental health services also are available. And while the department tries to encourage people to stay there, if they can’t travel, the state has contracted with hotels in other locations that serve essentially the same function.

Running the state’s Little Rock facility costs $4,922 per day. There’s $1 million set aside for the program, but if it runs out, “additional funding will be pursued,” McNeill said.

To qualify, patients must undergo a background check. If they’re found to have an active warrant, they’ll be arrested, Balamurugan said. He said that’s for the safety of the staff.

“If they have a warrant, we work with the sheriff and the police to see if they can be isolated in the prison system,” he added.

Aaron Reddin, founder of The Van, a nonprofit that brings food, water and other supplies to unsheltered homeless people in Pulaski County, said such a requirement is likely to deter some from getting the care they need.

“I really don’t understand complicating the process or creating barriers,” Reddin said. “I don’t think it’s going to be helpful.”

Background checks aren’t meant to be punitive, Balamurugan said.

“We do background checks primarily because we want to be aware of what we can expect, because ultimately we want to be able to protect everyone in the facility and our staff,” he said.

McNeill said no one with active warrants had been brought into the facility yet, but if it did happen, the department “would work with law enforcement to appropriately handle the situation.”

An open records request to the Pulaski County sheriff’s office for any arrest reports that mention the Arkansas Department of Health yielded no results.

And Lt. Robert Garrett, a spokesman for the department, said his office would have “no way of knowing” which facilities inmates came from because for those brought in on warrants, the arrest report contains the address but not the place of arrest.

Inability to isolate is just one of many concerns about infection spread in the homeless community that advocates and health experts have expressed for months.

Arkansas has about 2,740 people who are homeless, according to 2019 regional reports.

People experiencing homelessness have higher rates of many diseases and illness than people who are housed, studies have shown.

It’s also tougher for people who are homeless to access needed sanitation, such as running water.

Contact tracing is also hard when it comes to people who are unsheltered and staying on the streets or in tents, Balamurugan said.

The Health Department will contact service providers and send in a team to a known camp if someone who was there tests positive, he said.

But the state doesn’t always have that information.

For example, a 59-year-old man died of covid-19 in Little Rock on July 1, and according to the death report he had been homeless. It was the first known case in Arkansas of an unhoused person dying of the virus.

Arkansas Department of Health officials don’t know where he was staying because he wasn’t at their facility. Homelessness service providers aren’t sure who he was — many of the city’s homeless go by nicknames. The coroner’s report doesn’t list a next-of-kin.

“If you look at the homeless population and what they experience, there is a diversity with them; many of them stay in shelters, many of them are unsheltered. Some of them are couch-surfers,” Balamurugan said.

Contact tracing for the unsheltered population “is a little bit hit or miss compared to the sheltered ones,” he added.

The department has partnered with the Arkansas Homeless Coalition, a volunteer group of advocates and service providers who work to solve problems facing the homeless across the state. The partnership, along with the facility, is part of a project called “Operation Compassion” that aims to help Arkansas’ homeless population.

Bettina Reynolds, coalition president, said a big part has been free testing for shelters that want it.

“We just try to get the word out that if anyone wants to do anything or if anyone wants to give, we ask them to reach out,” she said. “A lot of people are a little afraid right now.”

At least three shelters across the state have had residents or staff members test positive, according to the Health Department.

Shelters interested in getting testing can reach out to Reynolds via email at barandle22@outlook.com.

The Van’s Reddin said his group’s major goal so far has been getting people in camps to remain in place so they don’t risk contracting or spreading the virus.

The group is handing out masks regularly, along with food, water and hand sanitizer when possible.

But Reddin is also concerned about the coming winter. In a normal year, he would open emergency shelters when temperatures drop to dangerous levels. He’s not sure if that will be safe this year.

If it’s affordable, the group might try to rent out a parking deck or large warehouse and space tents far apart so people aren’t crammed together, Reddin said.

“I’m really, really concerned about winter,” he said. “I’ve started putting back money now, because I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”